Customer Reviews

Somebody to Love

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rosie Perez is the lead in this very engaging affair, cast as Mercedes, a young woman from Brooklyn who has resolved to become a film actress although not favoured by her circumstances, living in East Los Angeles and struggling with a series of fruitless auditions for any sort of part at all. Mercedes has hooked up with a married and washed-up actor, Harry Harrelson (Harvey Keitel), who at one time had performed in a television Western series during the 1970s, and seldom since, accepting him as her lover, in part from loneliness, and as well from a hope that film parts will be coming her way because of his "contacts", but these latter are of small consequence as Harry is simply self-delusional in his attempts at recovering what he perceives as past cinematic renown. In order to adequately support herself financially, Mercedes toils as a taxi dancer in a downtown Los Angeles Skid Row dance hall/bar while she continues carrying on her efforts to succeed at the motion picture business, and it is while there at the dance palace that a young immigrant from Mexico, Ernesto (Michael DeLorenzo), falls in love with her and the largest portion of the narrative depicts his efforts to please the object of his affections, even if they may mean losing her altogether. This essentially tradition rooted melodrama is given only a moderate budget, despite the presence of a goodly number of well-known players, including Steve Buscemi, Anthony Quinn, and Stanley Tucci, and was kept in the can for about a year before its rather desultory distribution and leaden marketing efforts on its behalf, more's the pity as its solid production characteristics are firmly complemented by Alexandre Rockwell's admirably controlled direction, a consistent virtue of his work, and on display in this film from its very opening scene, frames that form a montage behind the credits, featuring Perez at Skid Row's Fifth and Main Streets. Rockwell has often demonstrated that he operates very closely indeed with his cast, and this holds true in this instance as he allows his actors to create their roles while any ad libbing is neatened nicely via the editing process, resulting in an artistic success for the director, despite negative comments from some mainstream evaluators. The film's scoring is aesthetically spot on with a good deal of it contributed by Tito Larriva, who also plays as band boss for the taxi dancers. Acting honours here must go to the ever vital Perez, although nary a sub-par performance is turned in. A fair test for any film's quality is given when a viewer will watch it twice within a brief period. Sitting through this undervalued work will be considered a keen pleasure for many.

Somebody to Love (1994) is a an movie that tells a lot about reality,
touching on personal and business aspects of everyone`s life in the mega cities,
never forgetting the primary goal of entertaining the movie paying public, with
humor, action, and a plot that captivates viewers.

Often the charisma of the actors is paramount, and this is the case here, with Harvey
Keitel playing Harry - a seasoned veteran actor in the business, with
all the implications it carries, such as prestige, work conditions, salary, frequency
of work, influence and respect seen from many sides.

In this work, and script allowed Keitel to poke fun at himself, with paralells at his real life
role, encompassing moments where he sports a gorilla suit or jumps around in a cheeta underwear in front
of his girlfriend, etc.

An equally strong and remarkable performance, is by Rosie Perez, playing Mercedes - a taxi dancer or
escort or entertainer for guests at a working class night club - struggling to
get ahead in her movie business career. Perez (as did Keitel) also pokes sarcastic
humor at herseklf, with the ups and downs and struggles facing those wanting to participate and prosper
in the movie industry.

Next, there is a new face, (very reminiscent of Edward James Olmos), Michael DeLorenzo, playing a
struggling grave digger and laborerer, arrived from Mexico or South America, facing the same
usual downs of anyone new to a city, such as solitude, dearth and modesty of financial and housing conditions
the poverty of pay for the type of work donw, etc.

He turns to an shady underground businessman, played by Anthony Quinn, making money from peep shoes and

titillation, who recruits him to his organization as a money and narcotics carrier, and then hitman.

The upshot, is a movie with a number of extreme aspects, from a sarcastic humor, to a sober realism,
to violence, while maintaining a moving dynamism over 90 minutes, making it well worth watching.
In short, Keitel again comes through in a project that is professional and artistic
as is the case with many past pictures.

Somebody to Love is a gem of a movie which captures of the vibrancy of a life lived on the fringe. Rosie Perez nails her performance as a good girl wanting to stay good in a bad city full of not-so-good people. However, this world is not without hope as the last frame of the movie captures quite vividly. The movie has many other notable performances, Anthony Quinn, Harvey Kitel, Steve Buscemi and the Latin lead who plays her love interest of sorts. If you have ever loved or wanted to love or not sure what love is, this is a great film to see. It's a shame it didn't get larger play as it has a lot of merit and heart.

I began to watch the movie and could not finish it. Others liked it, to me it was perhaps too skiddish-road with people falling to the low passions of their soul just to cruise through life and/or to accomplish an unvirtious end; I'm not really that sanctimonious, I have managed to watch more horrible films to the end. For some reason this one never got off the ground, some day I'll watch the rest of it and perhaps then I'll submit an ammended review.

If you've ever loved, wanted to be loved, and have dreamed of that perfect someone at the expense of losing a true love, this film is for YOU! There's a line in the film that says it all..."Can you imagine flying on the wings of love?"
Superb acting by Rosie Perez, Harvey Keitel, Anthony Quinn and (especially) Michael DeLorenzo as Ernesto (not to forget Quentin Tarantino as the bartender). It's a hard life, but it's even harder when you turn your back on love.

FIVE stars! A jewel...an ageless testimonial of how fragile we are, and how close we come to winning or losing at the game of love!